Factors influencing consumer intention to use social commerce

Abstract

Social commerce is a new concept in the field of information technology. This study aims to investigate the factors that influence the consumers' intention to buy through social commerce in Qatar. The current study is based on the extended unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology (UTAUT2). This study proposed three major extensions to the UTAUT2 with modification to the price value variable to be perceived value (PV). In addition, the model is extended with two new predictors, i.e., social commerce constructs (SCCs) and trust (TR). The results indicated that perceived value followed by trust were the most influential factors that affect the consumers' intention to buy through social commerce in Qatar, while performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence were not found to be significant at all. The coefficient of determination of the regression model yielded 72.5% explanation power, which exceeds the UTAUT and the UTAUT2 models. Managerial implications were presented, and study limitations were furnished with suggestions for future works.